Red Sea Rule #3 & #4

#316 Red Sea Rule #3 & #4Acknowledge your enemy, but keep your eyes on the LORD.Pray! “When pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.” Exodus 14:10It is possible to pray a prayer of panic, like the people of Israel did at the Red Sea. They were frightened when they saw the Egyptian army pursuing them. They were boxed in with nowhere to run. So they cried out to the LORD, and immediately cried out in panic and anger to Moses. “Is it because there were not graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness…For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Exodus 14:10-12 They cried out to the LORD without seeing who the LORD really was. In contrast to this is the prayer of Hezekiah in Isaiah 37. He spreads the threatening letter from the King of Assyria before the Lord. Isaiah 37:14 He acknowledges the history of the conqueror and the current threat: “Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.” Isaiah 37:18-19Hezekiah was not mindlessly rehearsing his fear of the forces that threatened the existence of Judah. He spoke these words to the One he acknowledged as His Powerful God of armies. “O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, Thou art the God, Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline Thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open Thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God.” Isaiah 37:16-17It is easy to talk about the threatening issue apart from God. But we must acknowledge the enemy and the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12) in the presence of our holy God. When we speak for Who our God is in prayer, and declare His power and holiness as we bring the threat before Him, fear is put in its place.

When we take our fear before our Holy God of Hosts it becomes small and Awe for God looms large. Isaiah 8:12-13